


Come With Me If You Want To Live

by house_of_lantis



Category: American Idol RPF, Terminator (Movies)
Genre: Language, M/M, Major character deaths (sort of), Terminator AU, Violence, and underage kidnapping, underage sexytimes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-08-12
Updated: 2011-08-11
Packaged: 2017-10-22 13:02:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/238312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/house_of_lantis/pseuds/house_of_lantis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the eve of humanity’s victory against SkyNet, Adam’s costly mistake takes him to the past where he must now protect the young Kris Allen from a terminator.</p><p>Based on moirariordan prompt for Kradamadness Round 10 Heroes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Come With Me If You Want To Live

**SkyNet Facilities  
2030 A.D.**

Neon blue electricity sparkled and raced throughout the room as they ran to shut it down. They watched in horror as the last of the terminators disappeared into the field, their metal faces turning to give them a monstrous smile.

“We’re too late!”

“Fuck!”

General John Connor stormed into the time displacement chambers, looking around at the display screens around the circular room. “How many did they send through?”

“Fuck! I counted six terminators.”

“You counted the _last_ six that went through.” Tech-Com Sergeant Adam Lambert threw off his helmet and pushed the soldier away from the panels, his fingers working quickly on the digital keyboard. He stared at the machine language, his brain translating the binary code instantaneously. “They sent back fourteen terminators before the program shut down, General.”

“Damn it,” John muttered, shaking his head. “Can you trace them?”

Adam typed frantically, knowing that time was of the essence. They all knew the stories – terminators sent back in time to different points of their timeline to kill off all the rebel leaders before they became rebel leaders, abortion in vivo.

“I’ve got it,” Adam shouted, turning to look over his shoulder at the men and women who stood in the room. “I’ve got it! The first one went to 1984. Los Angeles.”

“Get these machines back up online!” John shouted, taking off his helmet and his weapons. “We need to open up these fields and follow the terminators back through to the timelines that they were sent to!”

The soldiers in the room – all of John’s inner circle were Tech-Com “brains” – those who were able to handle and work with SkyNet technology. They each went to one of the panels surrounding the room, tapping on the digital keys, pulling up the system networks.

“Sergeant Reese!” John shouted, waving for the young man towards him. “I know I don’t have any right to ask you to risk your life, but I _need_ you to go through the displacement fields, back to 1984. They’re targeting my mother.”

There was silence in the room as they all turned to look at John Connor. Adam knew that there was a cult-like mentality when it came to their hero – that John was the first to know what was coming; that he knew how to stand up to these motherfucking machines; that he was humanity’s last stand. They would all die for him. Kyle Reese placed his hand on John’s shoulder and gripped him tight. “You don’t ever have to ask me to lay down my life for you, sir.”

Adam watched from the corner of his eye as the two men stared at each other. Reese was just as badass as John Connor. He went up against the machines with that same fearlessness as John. Adam could see why the General always wanted Reese watching his back. He didn’t trust anyone like the way that he trusted Reese.

“Take care of her,” John said, softly.

Adam cleared his throat. “Reese, nothing inorganic can go through.”

“I won’t let anything happen to her, I swear it on my life.” Reese said, taking off his gear and clothes, tossing them on the floor.

"Thank you, Kyle."

Kyle handed John a picture. "I've kept it ever since you gave it to me. You keep it now. It's given me nothing but luck."

Adam watched as the General leaned close to Kyle’s ear, whispering something urgent to him. He watched as Kyle closed his eyes and nodded, opening his eyes to look up at the General. “I’ll tell her. I won’t forget.”

"Be safe," the General said, putting his hand on Kyle's shoulder. "Stay alive. That's an order, soldier."

"Yes, sir."

“We’ve got the first link up and running!” Adam shouted, staring at the monitors. “Kyle! Thirty seconds!”

They all watched as Reese walked into the displacement field chamber. The General walked around so that he stood in front of Reese, meeting his eyes. He nodded at Reese and the Sergeant gave him a proud smile and closed his eyes.

“Field is activating!” Adam said, typing in the commands. “Everybody should probably close your eyes now! It’s going to get real bright in here!”

Three-two-one—

The displacement field activated and filled the room with the whitest light. Adam kept his eyes closed tight, shielding his face with his arms, but the light still penetrated and nearly blinded him. The room darkened and Adam started typing at the monitors again, checking to make sure that the trace – that Kyle Reese – made it to the past. Alive.

“He made it!” Adam yelled, a zing of thrill going through his belly. They didn’t celebrate – they didn’t have time; and they knew that it was a one-way trip, that if Reese did his job, he wouldn’t have to see this future ever again, that he'd stay in the past and die in the past.

“Find the next one,” John said, walking to Adam and standing beside him. He placed his hand on Adam’s shoulder and Adam took a deep breath, his fingers flying over the keyboard, rows and rows of machine language filling the screen. “Keep looking.”

“Where’s the General?”

John looked up. “Major Allen, over here. What have you got for me?”

Tech-Com Major Kris Allen rushed over to them. “I found the terminator chamber. There must be a thousand of them on standby.”

“Jesus,” Adam mumbled, looking up for a moment to look at Kris. They shared a brief smile, sparing only that much time to acknowledge each other and to acknowledge what they were.

“If we’re sending back our own to the past, how’re they going to fight a terminator? We should reprogram them and send them back to help,” Kris said, frowning slightly.

Adam thought that was fucking genius. He gave a quick smile to Kris. John nodded. “Show me.”

He turned and watched the two of them leave the displacement chambers and Adam concentrated on reading the machine language, hunting to find the hidden programs that would show him where the next timelines were and who were on SkyNet’s death list.

***

“Lambert! With me, now!”

“On my way, sir!” Adam stood up, waving over Sergeant Matt Giraud to take his place. He pointed his finger to the line of code on the screen. “That’s what you’re looking for, Matty. Don’t fuck it up, it’s all our lives on the line.”

Matt smirked, taking over the typing as quickly as Adam. “Yeah, no pressure or anything.” He looked up at Adam, his playful expression gone, replaced by something hard and human. “Go, I got this, Adam, don’t keep the General waiting.”

Adam hurried across the room towards the terminator chambers. He walked in, slightly freaked out at the way that the thousand steel man-shaped machines stood at rest, their eyes dark and lifeless. He swallowed, forcing himself to ignore his terror, walking towards the skin graft biotubes.

Inside, there were fourteen terminators, different models, and human skin knitting over machine. Adam thought it was horrific and incredible at the same time. The General and Kris stood at the controls, monitoring the process.

“Adam, I need you to hack into their subroutines and get into their primary cortex to reprogram them with new directives,” Kris said, moving aside so that Adam could take over the control panel. “Did you get the kill list?”

“Matty’s downloading them now,” he said, typing quickly and looking at the screens. “Okay, here’s how we do it.” He pointed to the neural network cortex. “We go in here, program them to keep our people safe and alive in the past and then we send them through.”

“These are T-800s,” John said, tapping his fingers on the glass. “I need to send two of them. The first one to 1995 and the second one to 2003.” He paused. “No, send it to 1995 only.”

Adam stopped typing and looked up at the General. “Sir?”

He gave Adam a small, ironic smile. “My wife will send the T-800 to 2003.” He nodded to the screen. “We don’t have much time.”

“Yes, sir,” Adam said, shaking off his questions. He trusted the General to know what the hell was going on. “The process is complete. They’re ready for programming. Is there something that you want me to input into their mission cortex?”

The General stared at him for a long moment. “The prime directive is to obey all orders made by John Connor. Protect his life. Save his life.” He took a deep breath. “When he finds Sarah Connor, say to her ‘come with me if you want to live’.”

Adam typed that into the programming and looked up at the General, nodding his head. “It’s done.”

“Bring it online,” John said, taking a few steps from the biotube chamber as Adam activated the terminator.

Adam watched as the soldiers held their weapons at the ready as the terminator came online, its eyes opening and tracking each person in the room until he settled on the General. He stood up and walked towards John.

“Acknowledge. John Connor. Awaiting orders.”

John took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I order you to walk to the time displacement field. When you arrive in 1995, you will find me and my mother, Sarah Connor, and protect us with your life.”

“Affirmative. Mission directives accepted,” the terminator intoned, walking into the displacement chamber and taking the steps to the field platform.

“Holy shit,” Adam murmured, breathless and shaking. Hearing the stories and actually seeing it, being part of it, there was no comparison. His fingers trembled on the keyboard and he jumped slightly when Kris placed his hand on Adam’s shoulder. He looked up at the older man and smiled, nodding quickly. “I’m all right.”

“Fire in the hole!” Matt shouted and they all covered their eyes as the white light filtered into the room for a second before disappearing.

“I need that list, Sergeant Giraud!” The General shouted as he walked back into the terminator chamber.

“Got it, sir,” he said, running towards Adam and handing him the portable chip. “Fourteen names and timelines.”

“Thanks,” Adam said, pushing the chip into the computer panel. He opened the system network and stared at each of the names. He recognized each name. They were badass leaders in their own right.

“Start programming all the terminators to make sure that our people are protected,” the General said, staring at Adam.

“Yes, sir,” he said, typing the mission directive commands for each terminator. He looked at the screen and then did a double take at the name. “Shit.”

“What?” Kris said, turning to look at him.

Adam froze, clenching his jaw as they read a familiar name on the screen: _Kristopher Neil Allen, Conway, Arkansas, March 2002, Age 17_.

Kris gave him a long look, his brown eyes hard. “Do it, Sergeant, treat me like anyone else on that list.”

Adam scowled, typing the protection commands quickly. “Fuck you, sir. You’re _not_ like anyone else on that list. You’re my fucking husband. Sir.”

***

 _Warning: Major character death (sort of)._

 

Adam worked quickly, keeping his focus on his job and not allowing himself a moment to freak out that his husband, Major Kris Allen, was on SkyNet’s death list. He didn’t know why he was surprised. The Major was just as much of a legend as the General. He was just a kid, lost his entire family and escaped into Mexico to survive the nuclear war, but then he chose to walk back into the eye of the storm to fight the machines. Kris used to tell him stories of how he first met John Connor in the pit of hell, processed like animals in a slaughterhouse, when they started to fight back and made their escape with only a handful of survivors – but it was enough; it was enough to give the human race a fucking chance.

He wanted to know more but Kris shook his head and told him that it was in the past; that they had to look to the future now. There were times when Adam caught Kris looking at him, a distant look in his eyes, sad and tired and lost. But he would never tell Adam what he was remembering and Adam understood; he had seen enough in his life to know that they didn’t need to be told – Kris was remembering someone he had loved and lost; someone before Adam.

He finished with his programming and made his way back into the time displacement lab and took his seat by the computer panels, following each trace to make sure that they made it back to the past. For the first time in a long time, he started to feel hope that this was all over; that they’d be able to stop fighting and catch their breath before rebuilding humanity. Each trace made it back to the past and Adam bit his lip, activating the commands for the last jump.

“Displacement field activated.”

“Okay, let me check that again,” he said, looking at the monitor and seeing Kris’s name on the screen. It was the last one that they’d send through and Adam wanted everything to be—

“TERMINATOR!”

“LIVE FIRE! LIVE FIRE!”

Adam turned to see the terminator jump off the time displacement platform. “Fuck!”

He turned back to the monitors, the room growing brighter, the sound of bullets hitting the metal of the terminator as it killed its way across the room.

“John!”

Adam turned at the sound of Kris shouting the General’s name, moving in front of John to stand between the terminator and the General. Adam stood up, watching as the terminator slammed its hand into Kris’s chest, right through his fucking chest, an explosion of blood everywhere.

“FUCK NO KRIS!”

It took three soldiers wasting every single round they had into the terminator to take it down.

“Lambert! Get into the field, now!” John screamed at him. “Get to Allen!”

Adam stared at Kris’s body on the floor, his eyes opened and wide and dead.

“Displacement field is going to close in ten seconds!” Someone yelled, grabbing Adam’s shoulder. “It’s going to close and you’re going to miss the window!”

He turned to see Matty’s mouth working but he didn’t hear anything. All he could see was Kris. Dead.

“Kris—“

“Adam! No, don’t look at him. Look at me. Look at me! He’s not dead. He’s still alive. In the past, Adam! Are you going to leave him unprotected? He doesn’t have a chance to survive this if you don’t go back now!” John screamed at him. “Kris needs you!”

Adam swallowed, fighting back the numbness, and ran towards the platform. He didn’t even have time to take off anything, a part of his brain that was still functioning telling him that nothing inorganic could go through. He closed his eyes as the brilliant white light flashed around him, the burn of energy blast surrounding his body nothing like the burn inside his heart.

He opened his mouth and screamed…into the past.

***

 **Conway, Arkansas  
March 2002**

 

Adam landed in a field, the scent of burnt grass and fabric and leather thick in his nose. He held his hand as he gasped in pain, his skin burned and raw where his wedding ring had melted off and disintegrated during the re-entry process of time displacement. He blinked, staring up at the clear blue sky, the air clean, and a sense of life around him filling his senses.

He curled up on his side, screaming in grief, the loss of Kris finally tearing through him. He pressed his face against the grass and cried, fingers digging into the dirt.

The memory of the terminator thrusting his hand into Kris’s chest; the look of shock and pain on his face; the spray of blood everywhere—oh God, Kris was dead. Kris was dead! It wasn’t supposed to happen like that; not when they were so close to being free and safe. They still had years ahead of them – and to be taken down like that—oh God. Oh God. Oh God—

How had he fucked up the programming on the terminator? What went wrong?

He’d killed Kris. Oh God, he’d killed…

Adam wiped his face with his shaking hands, getting to his feet slowly. His body felt battered. He was naked. He knew that he had to find supplies and—

Find Kris. He would be – he’d just be a kid now. Oh fuck, what the hell had gone wrong?

“Fuck,” he hissed, taking a deep breath. He had a mission to accomplish. There was a terminator after Kris. He was unprotected and Adam could save him. He’d save him and warn him in advance, to keep himself safe from that moment. He could still salvage something from this fucked up mess if it was the last thing that he did.

First, he had to blend in. And then he’d need some kind of transport and weapons. He made his way across the field, keeping to the tall grass and trees, off the streets. He stayed low, running slowly but steadily, his vision sharp as he scanned the area. He saw what looked like a residential building with clothes hanging outside. He’d need shoes, clothes, water, and food.

Silently, he crept around the wooden building, looking inside the windows to see no one within the low complex. He walked to the clothes hanging on the thin rope and found denims and tee-shirt. He grabbed them off the line and got dressed quickly, the clothes too big for him but they would do. He grabbed socks and pulled off the long sleeved shirt, putting it on over the tee-shirt. He wandered around the complex to a side door and slipped up the steps, testing the doorknob. It was locked. Looking around, Adam pressed his hands against two pressure points and shouldered his way inside.

The complex was well fortified. He found old leather boots and bent down to pull on the socks. He hoped the boots would fit – they were a size too big – but he didn’t care, they were enough and he slipped his feet into them. Next, he found a bag and walked into the food preparation room and opened the cabinets and the free standing steel box. Inside, it was cool and he found cold and fresh foods. He bit into something red and round and nearly groaned at the sweet, crisp flavor of the natural food. It had been years since Adam had tasted natural food. He grabbed everything that he could into the bag and closed the steel box door.

He wasn’t sure if the people who lived in this complex would have weapons, but Adam checked various rooms, opening drawers, looking for anything that he could use. All he could find was a pocket knife that he tucked into his pocket.

Quietly, he left the interior of the complex and walked towards the back to see a battered transport vehicle with a flatbed at the back. He slipped his hand through the opened window, unlocking it. He opened the door and tossed the bag of food and bottled liquids to the other seat and got inside. He reached under the steering console, jerking off the protective panel to the wires underneath. He peered at the elementary design of the wiring system and used the pocket knife to snip the yellow wire and the red wire, stripping off the covering to the filament. He twisted one set together and then tapped the other ends, hearing the engine turn over and sputter. He brushed the wires again and nodded when the engine started. He looked at the gear system and used trial and error to get the transport vehicle moving forward.

He directed the vehicle to the road and checked the placement of the sun. He would head west for now and see where it took him. He needed to find an information center – a computer or something – where he could locate Kris. He wished that he knew more about living in the past. He wasn’t really sure what to expect but he knew he had to be prepared for anything. The terminator was already there and Adam didn’t know how much of a head start it had.

Kris. Oh God Kris. How did he fuck up? He slammed his hand on the steering wheel. Focus, damn it, focus! Kris needed him now. He was here to make sure Kris lived to grow up strong and smart, to take down the motherfucking machines, to win the war – to live to be Adam’s husband.

Kris would be 17 years old in 2002. He would be in school. He would be a fucking kid, not Adam’s husband. Adam wouldn’t meet Kris until 2020 when Adam was 18. In fact, Adam would be older than Kris now. Adam was born in January 2002, he was just a baby now. Their paths wouldn’t cross for years. It was enough to fuck with his head.

TBC…


End file.
